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North West Unemployment Falls

Unemployment in the North West has fallen - despite a national rise in the number of people out of work.

There are 10, 000 less people without jobs in the North West according to new statistics out today - a fall of 8.2%.

Nationally, unemployment has reached a 17-year high after more than 100,000 people joined the ranks of those looking for a job, grim new figures showed today.

Youth unemployment reached a record high of 991,000, while the numbers claiming jobseeker's allowance increased for the seventh month in a row, to 1.6 million.

Other figures showed a 178,000 slump in employment in the quarter to August - the biggest fall in more than two years - and the largest-ever cut in the number of part-time workers, down by 175,000.

There was a record reduction of 74,000 in the number of over-65s in employment, according to today's data from the Office for National Statistics.

Unemployment increased by 114,000 to 2.57 million, the worst figure since the autumn of 1994, giving a jobless rate of 8.1%, the highest since 1996.

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work increased by 74,000 over the latest quarter to 991,000, a rate of 21.3%, the highest total since comparable records began in 1992.

Other figures showed that the number of people classed as economically inactive increased by 26,000 to 9.35 million, a rate of 23.3%.

Taking the inactivity rate and the new jobless figures together, half of 16 to 24-year-olds are now not employed, it was revealed.

The claimant count, covering those on jobseeker's allowance, increased by 17,500 in September to 1.6 million, the seventh consecutive monthly rise and the highest total since the beginning of last year.

Around 150,000 people were made redundant in the latest three months, an increase of 6,000 over the previous quarter.

The number of unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds increased by 3,000 to 205,000, while long-term unemployment, counting everyone out of work for more than a year, rose by 60,000 to 867,000.

Employment fell by 178,000 to 29.1 million, the biggest quarterly fall since the summer of 2009, while part-time employment dipped by a record 175,000 to 7.78 million.

Average earnings increased by 2.8% in the year to August, down by 0.1 percentage points over the previous month, giving an average wage of £463 a week.

Around 4,000 working days were lost in August through 10 industrial disputes, taking the 12-month total to 423,000 from 119 stoppages.